Captain Harwood axed

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coaches Graham Cheetham and Lofty Stevenson have dropped a bombshell by axing Joe Harwood as the skipper of their Heartland championship squad for 2008.
Harwood led Wairarapa-Bush to the Heartland title in his first season as captain last year and the Carterton hooker's leadership qualities were rubber-stamped when he was given the honour of skippering the Heartland national squad on a brief tour of Argentina.
His efforts there, both on and off the field, drew considerable praise from both team management and players.
Cheetham was at pains to emphasise yesterday that Harwood's replacement by Mike Spence as captain for Wairarapa-Bush's 2008 Heartland campaign was no reflection whatsoever on Harwood's capabilities in the position.
Rather it was a case of Spence standing in for Harwood when the latter missed the non-championship games against a Wellington XV and Hawke's Bay and doing such a good job that Cheetham and Stevenson have elected to stick with him over the remainder of the season.
That, and the fact that work commitments for Harwood could clash with some training sessions.
"We'll still be pushing for Joe as captain of the national (Heartland) team, we certainly don't have any issues with his performance in that role," Cheetham said.
"He's still a very important part of our team, no doubt about that."
Cheetham and Stevenson won't be finalising their full Heartland squad until after the last of their non-championship games against Poverty Bay on August 11 .
However, Cheetham is hopeful the 22 players named yesterday for the trip to Gisborne plus a training camp this weekend would impress enough to be retained for the Heartland programme.
"We've told them the door is still open for others to come in & right now nothing is guaranteed," Cheetham said.
"Form and fitness will decide their fate, it's in their hands now."
Just six members of last season's successful Heartland squad Spence, Harwood, Hamish McKenzie, Brendon Walker, Simanu Simanu and Brett Rudman are in the 22 for the Gisborne match although the likes of Dan Griffin and Steve Olds have played at that level in the past.
Perhaps the most interesting selection is that of John Dodd, a first-five eighth who played under Cheetham a couple of seasons ago when he was assistant coach of the Wairarapa-Bush colts.
Dodd was with Gladstone then but now plays his club rugby in Manawatu for High School Old Boys.
The "importing" of Dodd highlights the difficulty Cheetham and Stevenson have had in finding a first-five capable of adequately filling the role held for several seasons by Marist stalwart Patrick Rimene but, fingers crossed, it doesn't necessarily mean that Rimene is now history.
He had talks with Cheetham and Stevenson this week and they remain hopeful of him being involved in Heartland games.
Little was seen of Masterton Red Star midfield back Heemi Tupaea during the club season because of injury but is he is now fully recovered and is being given the opportunity to press his claims while Tapanga Isaac (Greytown-Tuhirangi) and Lima Lauvi (Masterton Red Star) are a couple of young wingers who still have much to prove as well.
Questions will obviously be raised over why two of the most in-form forwards of the club season, Nathan Rolls (Pioneer) and Corey Reid (Marist) have been overlooked but it is understood work commitments have ruled Rolls out, at least for the next fortnight, and Reid is overseas.
Remarkably, skipper Spence is the sole representative in the team to play Gisborne from 2007 club champions Gladstone and, runners-up, Marist are not represented at all.
No doubt the frustratingly long list of unavailabilies has played its part in that situation, and is something which may need to be addressed at board level.
With so many of last season's champion-winning Heartland side missing Cheetham and Stevenson were always going to have a hard act to follow without many other "fringe" players pulling the plug as well.
Cheetham though is doing his best to put a positive spin on things.
"There is still a lot of talent there and if everything clicks we'll give a good account of ourselves," he said.
The squad for the Poverty Bay match is: Shane Temana, Daniel Griffin, Brendon Walker, Hamish McKenzie, Sullivan Alsop, Simanu Simanu, Steve Olds, Josh Mackey, Jon Guillard (Eketahuna); Mike Spence (Gladstone); Joe Harwood, Lance Stevenson, Tomasi Kedarabuka, Mosese Gutvukaca (Carterton); Jared Bambry (Puketoi);
Jordan Fox (Pioneer); Heemi Tupaea, Lima Lauvi (Masterton Red Star); Michael Hollis, Brett Rudman, Tapanga Isaac (Greytown-Tuhirangi); John Dodd (Manawatu).